C-Suite Challenge^™ 2019: The Future-Ready Organization: Japan

According to our annual global C-Suite Challenge™ survey, CEOs in Japan agree on two critical internal stress points for the coming year: talent, including developing the next generation of leaders, and strategy, specifically digital transformation and the need to create new business models in response to the explosion of disruptive technologies. CEOs were asked to define the successful company in Japan in 2025. In their view, future competitive success means Japanese firms will need to: Focus on talent recruitment, retention, and engagement in the face of growing talent shortages; be more willing to embrace external networks and nontraditional partnerships to drive innovation while embracing a more entrepreneurial internal culture; and redefine work with agile, fluid teams as the new work nexus. Functions will be leaner as AI translates into a higher cognitive complexity of human work.